The Spirit LandEmmons, Samuel B. (Samuel Bulfinch)
Religion
The Spirit Land
Emmons, Samuel B. (Samuel Bulfinch)
Occultism -- Early works to 1900; Spiritualism
cloth, fastening her feet on the front round, and confining her hands
together on her lap. No change, however, was produced. The thumping
continued as before, excepting that it was not quite so loud. The noise
resembled that which would be produced by stamping on the floor with a
heavy heel; yet she did not move a limb or muscle, that we could
discover. She remained in this position long enough to satisfy all in
the room that the girl exercised, voluntarily, no sort of agency in
producing the noise. It was observed that the noise became greater the
farther she was removed from any other person. We placed her in the
doorway of a closet in the room, the door being ajar, to allow her to
stand in the passage. In less than one minute the door flew open, as if
violently struck with a mallet, accompanied with precisely such a noise
as such a thump would produce. This was repeated several times, with
the same effect. In short, in whatever position she was placed, whether
in or out of the room, similar results, varied a little perhaps by
circumstances, were produced. There is certainly no deception in the
case. The noise was heard at least one hundred yards from the house."
"In this case, no suspicions were entertained by the investigators that
there was any supernatural or spiritual power manifested, as there was
no manifestations of intelligence. They were purely physical
phenomena."
The next case we shall notice we copy from the Spiritual Telegraph of
July 3, 1852, taken from an old New York paper, dated March 10, 1789.
The extract is as follows:--
"Sir: Were I to relate the many extraordinary, though not less true
accounts I have heard concerning that unfortunate girl at New
Hackensack, your belief might perhaps be staggered and patience tired.
I shall therefore only inform you of what I have been an eye-witness
to. Last Sunday afternoon my wife and myself went to Dr. Thorn's, and
after sitting for some time, we heard a knocking under the feet of a
young woman that lives in the family; I asked the doctor what
occasioned the noise: he could not tell, but replied, that he, together
with several others, had examined the house, but were unable to
discover the cause. I then took a candle and went with the girl into
the cellar: there the knocking also continued; but as we were ascending
the stairs to return, I heard a _prodigious rapping_ on each side,
which alarmed me very much. I stood still some time, looking around
with amazement, when I beheld some lumber, which lay at the head of the
stairs, shake considerably. About eight or ten days after, we visited
the girl again: the knocking was again heard, but much louder than
before. Our curiosity induced us to pay the third visit, when the
phenomena were still more alarming. _I then saw the chairs move; a
large dining table was thrown against me, and a small stand, on which
stood a candle, was tossed up and thrown into my wife's lap_; after
which we left the house, much surprised at what we had seen."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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